The Cultural Significance of Vegetables and Herbs, and Tomatoes
Frank Mangan and Heriberto Godoy-Hernandez
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Welcome to this third article of Franco and Beto’s series on growing your own vegetables and herbs in Massachusetts.
Note on the Cultural Significance of Vegetables and Herbs from Franco Mangan Related to this Series of Articles
As a professor of vegetable crops at UMass Amherst, I teach the science of vegetable production. At the same time, I have always been interested in the historical and cultural significance of food. I am specifically interested in vegetables and herbs that can be grown in Massachusetts, of which the overwhelming majority are not native to the United States. My program has also implemented research and outreach activities to provide commercial farmers the information they need to both grow, market and promote vegetable and herb crops successfully.
Immigration has always been a significant source of U.S. population growth. Starting in the 1960s, the main source of immigrants coming to the U.S. shifted from Europe to tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Latin America, Asia and Africa). For example, Latinos are now 17% of the U.S. population, with over 55 million inhabitants, and are expected to be the largest ethnicity in the U.S. by 2060. Latinos also represent more than 50% of total public school enrollment in the seven largest cities in Massachusetts. The Asian population in the United States, with more than 19 million in 2014, is also growing rapidly. A large and growing number of people listed as African American or Black in the U.S. were born in Africa.
This dramatic increase in immigrant populations has had a significant effect on the U.S. marketplace, including an increased demand for fresh produce popular among these immigrant and ethnic groups. Latinos and Asians, for example, now account for more than 30% of all sales of fresh fruits and vegetables in supermarkets in the U.S., with a value of over $40 million in sales, and this is continuing to grow. Immigrant groups spend a higher percentage of their total food purchases on fresh produce than non-immigrants.
Both sides of my family have strong immigrant roots which dramatically influenced our cuisine. My mothers’ parents were born and raised in Ireland and came to the U.S. as immigrants and still followed their traditional Irish cuisine after arriving in Boston. Ireland, with a mild and moist climate, is well suited to the production of many different root crops and is, of course, most known for potatoes, still a staple there today. Growing up outside of Boston, we had potatoes, in one form or another, six days a week, many times in what we called a casserole. I felt more Irish than American growing up and eventually obtained Irish citizenship and an Irish passport in honor of that heritage.
My father’s grandparents were born and raised in Italy and arrived in Boston as immigrants in the 1850s. They were from the region of Liguria, located in northeastern Italy, where at that time people there spoke a dialect called Genovese, which is also the name of a classic Italian variety of basil (Ocimum basilicum), a staple in that region of Italy that we’ll cover in this series. Although my grandmother was born in Boston, as is the case with many first-generation Americans, she spoke the language of her parents, Genovese, before English. She also learned from her mother how to prepare traditional Ligurian recipes. Thanksgiving at her house started with antipasto, followed by lasagna, and then came the “tacchino”, or turkey. Very fond memories!
Many of the most common vegetables in the U.S. originated in the tropics and sub-tropics, including squash, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Despite not being able to survive a frost, these crops represent 70% of the 35,000 acres of vegetables grown in Massachusetts. Sweet corn, the number one vegetable grown in Massachusetts, will survive a frost, but grows best at high temperatures; its center of origin is also tropical, in what is now Mexico. There are few vegetable species that cannot be grown in the Northeastern U.S., although some need to be started in greenhouses and transplanted into the soil after the danger of frost has passed (e.g. peppers, tomatoes, eggplant).
Despite this, and despite high demand from ethnic/immigrant groups for ingredients used in their respective cuisines, there are also “tropical” vegetables and herbs that cannot be grown outside during our harsh winters in New England. In addition, fresh produce is increasingly being imported from outside the United States as more sophisticated post-harvest and transportation methods are being used.
Our UMass program addresses these issues by bringing graduate students and post docs from the countries of origin where these vegetables and herbs are popular. This allows us to work with the markets where these products are sold to promote locally grown options and do it using the language and culture of the target audience. The majority of my graduate students and post docs come from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries and take a leadership role in growing and marketing these crops for specific markets. Examples of this work will be used in this series of articles as they relate to growing vegetables and herbs in Massachusetts.
This video from 2012 describes the activities of the UMass Ethnic Crops Program, which are relevant to the information available in this webpage.
Vegetable/Herb of the Week: Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)
Tomatoes are the second largest vegetable crop in production in the world after potatoes, with 176 million tons per year produced in 2019, and the first in economic value (Tomato News, 2019). Tomatoes are a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family, which includes several other vegetables we grow in Massachusetts, including potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), peppers (Capsicum annum) and eggplant (Solanum melongena). (**See the side note on an interesting case brought to the US Supreme Court 1893 to rule on whether tomatoes were a fruit or vegetable).
| **Side note: In 1893, the US Supreme Court heard a case called Nix v. Hedden where it was debated if tomatoes should be called a fruit or a vegetable. John Nix had an important vegetable and fruit company in New York and he sued the tax collector of the port of New York, Edward Hedden, due to a new tax levied on vegetables, but not fruits, imported through the New York harbor. The Supreme Court heard the case and ruled that tomatoes are a vegetable since they are usually “eaten as a main course instead of being eaten as a desert”. Separate from this ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, we refer to tomatoes and other fruiting vegetables, such as peppers, eggplant, peas, among others, as vegetables since their production is very similar to non-fruiting vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage and sweet corn, which are usually grown as annual crops and not as perennial fruits such as apples, peaches, grapes, |
Tomatoes originated in western South America. It is not believed that they were consumed by the local inhabitants. They then made their way to Central America, where they were domesticated and consumed by the Aztecs and spread to the rest of what is now Mexico. In Nahuatl, the language used by the Aztecs, the fruit is called “tomatl”, which was then transformed to “tomato” in Spanish by the Spaniard conquistadores (Getilcore, David. A History of the Tomato in Italy).
Tomatoes were introduced to Europe after the Spaniard Hernán Cortés’ conquest of what is now Mexico, which lasted from 1519 to 1521. Seeds of many new species of food plants, including tomatoes, were brought to Spain and, with time, found their way to many parts of Europe. The fruit was given the name “pom d’oro” in Italy, translating to “golden apple”. This was documented in writing on October 31, 1548 and thought to be the first time a common name was given to this new species outside of the Americas, suggesting the strong affinity for tomatoes in Italy, which continues to this day. It is suggested that the word “golden” was used to refer to the tomato fruit at the cusp of ripeness with a golden hue. The modern word for tomato in Italian is pomadoro. This new vegetable was adopted in Italy much more than other regions of Europe. Initially, other regions of Europe didn’t consider tomatoes an important food crop, perhaps because it is in the same family as other poisonous plants in the Solanaceous family such as Atropa belladonna, known as belladonna or deadly nightshade (Getilcore, David. A History of the Tomato in Italy). Tomatoes are now grown throughout Europe, including a large and growing amount of production in heated greenhouses. Italy has the largest production of tomatoes in Europe and the sixth largest in the world in 2017.
Tomatillos (Physalis philadelphica and P. ixocarpa), are also in the Solanaceae family and were also domesticated in what is now Mexico. Tomatillos were also introduced to Europe by the Spaniards; however, they were not adopted for production in Europe as were tomatoes. Both Beto and I are huge fans of tomatillos and we’ll be sharing information on growing tomatillos later in this series!
Tomatoes are a high value crop in Massachusetts and to celebrate this vegetable a tomato contest is held annually where commercial farmers bring in their best tomatoes to compete in the following categories: flavor, firmness/slicing, quality, exterior color, and shape. Judges for this event include food writers, chefs, and local celebrities. You can see the ranking of tomatoes by category from the Tomato Contest in 2019 here. This is a great resource for finding new and interesting varieties appropriate for production in Massachusetts .
Tomato Production
Tomato plants are frost-sensitive and will die if the temperature goes below 32o F for some time. Optimum daytime temperatures for tomato growth are from 75oF to 80oF during the day and 62oF and 65oF at night. In Massachusetts, except for some higher elevations, the first week of June is a good time to transplant tomatoes outside. I normally don’t transplant tomatoes into my garden until the first week of June to make sure the temperature is appropriate. For field trials with frost sensitive crops at our research farm, I will seed them in a greenhouse so they will be ready to transplant the first week of June. Many farm stands will start selling tomato and other frost sensitive transplants earlier than the first week of June. You can always buy these transplants earlier and put them outside during the day as long as it is above 70oF and then bring them in at night if it will be below 62oF until the temperature is right. If it is too cold, you can leave them inside near a window for light.
I transplanted my peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and basil, which are all frost-sensitive, on May 24th this year after checking the forecast for Shutesbury MA for the next 10 days and felt comfortable doing so. Tomatoes can be grown in greenhouses and greenhouse tomato production is increasing around the world; however, this article focuses on only growing tomatoes outside. The New England Vegetable Management Guide has extensive information on growing tomatoes in greenhouses and high tunnels, also called “unheated plastic greenhouses” at https://nevegetable.org/crops/tomato-greenhouse-and-high-tunnel.
Tomatoes cannot be direct-seeded in Massachusetts; they have to be transplanted. You can either grow tomato transplants at home or buy them ready to go (Franco always buys his transplants from farm stands.). Tomatoes grow best in well-drained soils with sufficient fertility appropriate for tomatoes. As shared in the first column in this series, the only way to know the amount of fertility needed for your garden and for specific crops is to submit a soil sample to an appropriate lab for analysis.
There are several different types and categories of tomatoes appropriate for Massachusetts which are organized by growth habit and fruit size in Table 1, taken from the New England Vegetable Management Guide, where you can find these and more recommended varieties. As shared before, this list of recommended varieties in the Guide is provided by vegetable crop professionals and commercial farmers in New England.
| Table 1. Tomato varieties recommended for New England* | |||
| Fruit type** | Variety | Season/Size | Growth Habit** |
| Hybrid Slicing | Be Orange | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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Big Beef | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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Early Girl | Early/Medium | Indeterminate |
| Geromino | Main/Large | Indeterminate | |
| Heirloom/Open Pollinated | Amish Paste | Variable Plum | Indeterminate |
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Black Krim | Early/Medium | Indeterminate |
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Brandywine | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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Cherokee Purple | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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San Marzano II | Elongated Plum | Indeterminate |
| Hybrid Heirloom | Caiman | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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Damsel | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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Marbonne | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
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Margold | Main/Large | Indeterminate |
| Hybrid Paste/Plum | Golden Rave | Early/Small-Medium | Vigorous Indeterminate |
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Grandero | Main/Medium | Indeterminate |
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Juliet | Early/Small | Vigorous Indeterminate |
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Plum Regal | Main/Medium | Vigorous Indeterminate |
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Verona | Early/Medium | Indeterminate |
| Hybrid Cherry | Black Cherry | Large | Vigorous Indeterminate |
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Sun Peach | Medium | Vigorous Indeterminate |
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Sungold | Small-Medium | Vigorous Indeterminate |
| *Taken from the New England Vegetable Management Guide. ** Check out the definitions for “Fruit type” and “Growth Habit in the New England Vegetable Management Guide. |
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Due to their growth habit, most tomato types need to be trellised using stakes – we’ll show examples on how to do this in subsequent articles.
Heirloom tomatoes, which have been traditionally open-pollinated types, have been become very popular in the U.S. due to their distinct flavor profiles. Open-pollinated varieties are self-pollinated, and the resulting seeds will produce plants very similar to their parents. Technically, to be considered an heirloom, a tomato variety must have never been crossed with any other variety of tomato for at least 50 years, meaning the unique flavor profile has not been altered (see article at http://sacmg.ucanr.edu/What_are_Heirloom_Tomatoes).
Choosing tomato transplants
Any time you are transplanting a vegetable or herb, you want to start with healthy transplants. Give a good inspection of the root ball and foliage of the transplant. Seedlings with mainly white as opposed to brown roots and leaves without any lesions are best. The healthier the tomato plants are, the more resistant they will be to diseases and insect pests and produce more tomato fruits. We like to use the example of human health – the healthier a person is, the more they can fend off deleterious health issues.
Planting
See the New England Vegetable Management Guide for recommendations for spacing of different varieties of tomatoes at https://nevegetable.org/crops/tomato-outdoor. Adequate spacing of tomato plants produces short, stocky plants with good root systems, whereas crowding tomato plants produces tall, spindly plants. Crowding of plants will also generate more foliar diseases due to less air movement. Check out the recommendations for plant spacing that come with the tomato transplant. You can also ask for recommendations where you buy your transplants.
Weekly Video Update
Weekly Video Update at Franco's Garden (from 5/25/20)
